North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has reportedly sent two pounds of sweets to every child in the country to mark his birthday on 8 January.

According to a radio report from state-run North Korean Central Broadcasting Station, Jong-Un used an aircraft to make sure all North Korean children, from the age of ten and below, received sweet treats.

This tradition was started by his grandfather and North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung in 1980 and Jong-Un's father, Kim Jong Il, then carried on the tradition when he came to power in 1994.

After becoming leader, Jong-Un has tried to display a more informal style in public appearances.

"Such gifts to children are aimed to project an image as a benevolent, caring leader as the North seeks to build up a personality cult around the young leader," Cho Bong-Hyun, an analyst at the IBK Economic Research Institute in Seoul, said.

Last year, on his birthday, North Korea media aired a documentary, titled: Inheriting the Great Achievement of the Military First Revolution of (Mount) Baekdu, showing images of Jong-Un riding a white horse and inspecting military units. The clip, believed to be a compilation of videos taken from 2009, hailed his determination to protect his country.

Details of Jong-Un's early life are few, and even his date of birth is a mystery. Jong-Un may have been born either in 1983 or 1984, but North Korean authorities, however, claim he was born on 8 January, 1984. In an effort to make the dynastic succession a smooth one, Jong-un's birthday was declared a national holiday in North Korea, in 2010. He is reported to have gone to school in Switzerland and later studied at Kim Il-sung University in North Korea.

Though the country faces a dire economy and poverty, Jong-Un has been known for his love of extravagant luxury. According to South Korea's The Chosunilbo, diplomatic sources in Pyongyang say the young leader has imported skiing equipment, ski lifts and artificial snow machines to realise his dream of building a private ski resort near Wonsan in Kangwon Province.

Meanwhile, speculation that Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju have turned parents is going around, based on recent images of his spouse.